The Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) met in Lausanne, Switzerland last weekend. One of the decisions made was the allocation of the 2008 Champions Trophies.
The 2008 WorldHockey Men's Champions Trophy will take place in Netherlands with ABN AMRO as major sponsor. The exact location will be decided at a later stage. The Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy, women will be played in Monchengladbach, Germany next year. The dates of both Champions Trophies will be decided after consultation with both host organizers.
The FIH Executive Board is glad to announce a substantial progress made in ÔÇÿPromoting Indian HockeyÔÇÿ, a project of the FIH led by Bob Davidzon in cooperation with the Indian Hockey Confederation, the Indian Olympic Association and Olympic Solidarity (IOC).
The decision which countries will host the 2010 Men's and Women's World Cups will be communicated later this week.
Another item discussed at the Executive Board meeting was the completion of the WorldHockey Umpiring Boost (WHUB), an FIH project, jointly organized by the Umpiring Committee and the Development and Coaching Committee. The overall objective was to assist as many National Associations as possible to encourage, promote and develop Umpiring in their own country. The Umpire committee was complimented by the Executive Board for its efforts and resulted in many new hockey umpires. The WHUB lasted three years and 80 national associations were involved.
The Executive Board also decided to give more support to its Continental Federations (CF's). The CF's will receive a higher administration grant of the FIH, so each CF may recruit secretarial assistance in order to improve the efficiency of its administration based upon certain conditions to fulfil.
The next FIH Executive Board meeting is scheduled for November 2007 in Delhi, India.
